RM12 mln for roads in Batang Ai; project state’s priority: Masing
(The Borneo Post Online) KUCHING: The state has agreed to tar-seal roads within the Batang Ai re-settlement scheme, said Land Development Minister Dato Sri James Masing yesterday.
The cost of upgrading these roads would be around RM12 million, he said when contacted yesterday.
He said the state agreed to implement the project after he had queried why it had not been done after the Public Works Department (JKR) had proposed it under the Ninth Malaysia Plan before. He said he made the query at the Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting at the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) headquarters in Jalan Bako here on Sunday.
“Now that the state has the fund out of the second stimulus package, I believe the project will begin soon. The government, too, has treated it as a priority, therefore, we will do it first,” he said.
“The tar-sealing project shows that the government is aware of the needs for infrastructural development in the area. I hope it will commence soon,” he added.
According to Masing, the upgrading of these roads was supposed to be done many years ago when the re-settlement scheme first started following the construction of the Batang Ai hydro-power dam.
However, due to some financial constraint, they could not be implemented, he said.
“Part of the second stimulus package should at least be used for the roads at the re-settlement scheme,” he reiterated, referring to the RM1.2 billion that Sarawak will be getting out of Malaysia’s RM60 billion second stimulus package.
According to him, as far as two other key roads in Lubok Antu are concerned, JKR is still bidding for the fund needed for their upgrading.
Another road linking Ulu Sg Engkari and Batang Ai main road would also be built, he said.
“This road, around 18km in length, will make some 25 longhouses within the re-settlement scheme accessible to the major places in Sarawak,” he said.
“It may cost around RM360 million but JKR has yet to bid for the money,” he added.
Masing yesterday was repeating what he had said at a ‘Makan Malam Bersama Pemimpin’ get-together organised by the PRS Youth, in Sibu, on Saturday night.
At that get-together, Masing said he could foresee that people would question why the implementation of the road project was now when the by-election was around the corner.
“The reason is the fund is only available now,” he said to reporters who asked him during the dinner which was attended by, among others, the BN’s potential candidate Malcolm Mussen Lamoh, PRS deputy secretary general Henry Luhat, vice presidents Joseph Mauh, Billy Abit Joo and John Sikie Tayai, the publicity chief Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum and PRS Youth Unit chief, Mong Dagang.
